At present, spectrum and service profiles are generated manually, typically in close collaboration with the operator. The operator's network is investigated for potential sources of performance limitations and for physical layer parameter values that are regularly used in the network. This information is interpreted manually and used to determine in close collaboration with the operator a consistent set of spectrum and service profiles that enables to face the main issues and improve the overall performance.
As a result of uprising new services such as IPTV (Internet Protocol Television), VoD (Video on Demand), and Triple Play services, the management of system performances and customer support become more demanding. Often, the physical layer that transports the information over wired lines up to the end user, is the bottle neck for quality of service. Operators are using a network analyzer to remotely detect and diagnose physical layer problems, and eventually take action to improve performance.
Such network analyzer, like the Alcatel Lucent 5530 NA, typically features a Dynamic Line Manager (DLM) that monitors the line performance and takes action in order to improve performance of a line. The DLM thereto uses the spectrum and service profiles manually generated with collaboration of the operator. In a DSL network for instance, a set of such manually defined spectrum and service profiles is available from a server or in the DSLAMs. The set of spectrum and service profiles is typically constructed offline and stored on a server, e.g. the Dynamic Line Management (DLM) server. After construction, for simplicity of maintenance, the set of profiles is usually pushed into each DSLAM of the network. The set of spectrum and service profiles is consequently the same for all equipment in the DSL network, constructed to face most of the common situations, and consequently used to manage the entire DSL network. The DLM switches between the profiles and chooses the most suitable one for each line.
The human effort in the known method for generating spectrum and service profiles is tremendous: a detailed interpretation and analysis of the existing network data is required, a suitable set of parameter values has to be identified, and a set of spectrum and service profiles has to be determined in collaboration with the operator. As a consequence, the effort and cost for operators and network management system vendors is high.
An additional drawback of the known, manual method for generating spectrum and service profiles is that it tends to result in sub-optimal behaviour because the manual method inherently lacks objectivity. The set of spectrum and service profiles in other words is insufficiently accurate.
It is an objective of the present invention to disclose a method and tool for generating spectrum and service profiles that overcomes the above mentioned drawbacks of the known, manual method. More particularly, it is an objective to teach generating spectrum and service profiles in a manner that requires less or no human effort, that is less costly and time consuming for operators and network management system vendors, and that generates more optimal spectrum and service profiles.